There’s a lot of confusion out there about whether or not it’s okay to make phone recordings. If you’re thinking about recording your voice for a podcast or audio book, using your phone might seem like a no-brainier.
If you want to record music, however, using your smartphone can be trickier—inevitably, some people will accuse you of having lower-quality audio than if you’d recorded on actual studio equipment.
The truth is that with some planning and preparation (and maybe even some post-production work), it’s possible to create high-quality recordings even with just one of those tiny little computers in your pocket!
Use a Good Phone
You might already have a phone that can record decent audio, but it’s important to make sure you’re not using one of the many phones that are going to cause problems. When choosing a phone for studio recording:
- Find one with good-quality audio. Visit this website if you need to buy mobiles in Australia. This means avoiding super cheap phones or models that are more than a few years old.
- Make sure the battery life is decent—you should be able to easily make it through an hour-long recording without needing to recharge your phone halfway through.
Buy a microphone arm, or use an old lamp.
In case you don’t have a microphone arm, or any other kind of stand that can position the mic closer to your mouth, use an old lamp. You can find great deals on used lamps at thrift stores, and they make for excellent arms for holding a phone or tablet with an external mic attached.
Just be sure to position it close enough so that the microphone doesn’t pick up ambient sound from the room (like fans or air conditioners). Don’t forget to check out recording studio equipment packages in Brisbane.
Use a pop filter.
If you find yourself doing a lot of recording in your home studio, you’ll want to invest in a pop filter. These are just foam windshields used to reduce the number of plosive sounds that come through on your recordings.
They look like little flags hanging over the microphone, but they do wonders for reducing the harshness of words like “p,” “b,” and “t.” Pop filters can be purchased at any music instrument store or online retailer like Amazon if you don’t already have one lying around from another hobby (like old-school rap).
Don’t point the mic directly up, but at the mouth.
When pointing the mic at the speaker, it should be positioned at the height of the mouth. The microphone should be pointed toward their mouth, not up at the ceiling.
To position your phone for optimal sound quality, point it so that there is about a 45-degree angle between your phone and its face.
Set the mic up in a walk-around position.
To make sure the mic is picking up your voice clearly, set it up in a walk-around position. If you have a mic arm, that’s great! Use it to hold your phone above your head so you can walk around and sing as if there were no barriers between you and the mic. If not, try an old lamp or chair—anything that can hold the phone at chest level.
If neither of those work for you because of space limitations or budget constraints (a common problem with these types of microphones), then use a tripod instead and clamp it onto something sturdy like a table or chair leg so that it doesn’t move while recording.
Find a quiet location and record at night, if possible.
Recording in a quiet location is one of the most important things you can do. If you don’t have a quiet place at home, find a local coffee shop or library to record at night, when fewer people are around.
If the background noise is too loud or distracting, try recording in another room with less noise, or use earplugs to block out extra sounds.
You might also be tempted to record on a laptop next to an air conditioner or heater because it helps keep your computer from overheating—but this could affect the recording quality as well!
Practice your lines before recording them, and record multiple takes if needed.
The first thing to keep in mind is that practice makes perfect. Before you start recording your script, take a couple of minutes to run through it at least once or twice. You can also pick out the lines that are difficult for you and practice those separately from the rest of the script so that they sound natural when recorded.
If you’re recording a long script, be sure to break it down into sections so that you don’t have to read more than 30 seconds at one time without stopping. This will allow your voice some time to rest between each section so that you won’t sound too hoarse by the end of your recording session.
For example:
Section 1: “Hi, I’m Jane Smith; this is my brother Jack’s birthday party today…” Section 2: “We’re having fun inside playing games and eating cake! It’s all thanks to Mommy who made everything possible! (singing) Happy Birthday dear brother! Happy Birthday dear brother! We hope it’s a good one full of joy!’
Don’t make any sudden movements while recording (especially during climaxes).
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A good phone recording doesn’t have to be limited by equipment!
A good phone recording doesn’t have to be limited by equipment!
When you think of your phone, you probably imagine it being used for video chatting, texting, and calling people. But if you set it up correctly, your smartphone can also be a powerful tool for recording music—and there are no rules about how many songs you can record or how long they can be.
There are lots of different ways to get started with mobile audio production on your phone. Some phones have better microphones than others—so check out the specs before buying one if possible.
But even if yours isn’t well suited for recording audio directly into a microphone app like GarageBand or Audacity (see below), it still plays an important role in creating a good sound.
It’s very useful as an output device so that musicians who aren’t physically present at the same time can hear each other play during live performances without screaming over each other’s instruments at ear-splitting levels every time they’re in earshot during practice sessions.
Conclusion
With these tips in mind, you can start recording your own audiobooks on your phone and make it sound like a professional studio recording.